Chapter 1 – The Rune Beneath
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The pickaxe slipped from Erynn's blistered hands, clanging against the stone with a dull, echoing ring.
He froze.
The sound didn't bounce the way it normally did in the mine tunnels. It shimmered—a strange hum vibrating through the air, as if the rock itself had exhaled. The torchlight flickered, casting warped shadows on the jagged walls.
Erynn knelt slowly, brushing sweat-dampened strands of hair from his brow. The torch behind him sputtered, then steadied.
Something was down here.
And it wasn't coal.
He glanced over his shoulder. The other miners had already left—his shift had ended nearly an hour ago. He had stayed behind, hoping to earn a few extra copper shards for food. The overseers never checked this deep.
He leaned closer to the crack in the wall where his pick had struck. Beneath the fractured layers of black stone, something shimmered—purple and silver, like a star caught in ice.
A gem?
No. Not a gem. It pulsed.
Erynn's breath caught. He reached out, fingertips trembling, and brushed the surface.
The world went silent.
The torch blew out.
And the rune woke up.
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The stone split open with a deep, grinding groan. From inside emerged a circular tablet, no larger than a dinner plate. It floated gently into the air, runes carved along its surface glowing faintly with shifting light—no language Erynn had ever seen.
He stumbled back, heart racing. The tablet turned slowly, its center pulsing like a heartbeat.
And then—it chose him.
The runes flared.
A single bolt of purple light leapt from the tablet and struck his chest. Erynn cried out as the force lifted him off his feet and flung him against the tunnel wall. Sparks exploded behind his eyes. Pain burned through his chest, down his spine, into his limbs.
And then—
Nothing.
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When Erynn woke, the torch was burning again. The tablet was gone.
But something had changed.
He sat up, wincing. His shirt was scorched open, and etched into the skin of his chest was a glowing symbol—one of the same runes that had been on the tablet. It shimmered faintly, then faded into a faint scar.
He touched it.
And felt something answer.
It was like holding a current of wind, fire, water, and stone—all at once. It didn't make sense. He had no elemental training. He wasn't even enrolled in the Initiate's School.
But something inside him had awakened.
And it was hungry.
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A noise echoed from above. Voices. Boots.
"—he's down here. I can feel it. The Rune's been broken."
Erynn's blood went cold.
They were looking for him.
He grabbed the torch, stumbling to his feet, and ran.
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That night, the mines burned.
The Rune Order came with fire and steel. They called him a Runeborn. A heresy. An accident that should not exist.
He barely escaped the village, flames behind him, and a black-cloaked mage swearing:
> "Bring me the boy. The Hollowfire King's return begins with him."
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To be continued…